May 22, 2010 - The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, has slammed the Bulgaria government’s decision to delay the full smoking ban in public places.

Jakab made WHO’s feelings known to the Bulgarian Deputy Health Minister, Desislava Dimitrova, in Geneva in the 63rd session of the World Health Assembly. WHO are also set to send an open letter to the Bulgarian Parliament over the delayed ban.

Smoking will now be allowed in separate smoking spaces inside restaurants, bars, coffee shops, railroad stations, airports, ports, and bus stations. In restaurants with less than 50 square meters, the owner is to decide it the establishment will be smoking or non-smoking. In office buildings, employers have the right to designate special smoking spaces. In night clubs smoking will be allowed without the requirement to have separate non-smoking places.

Photo by Sofia Photo AgencyMay 22, 2010 - Bulgaria's parliament delayed on Thursday, May 20th its conclusive [final] vote on the ruling-party proposal to water down a new smoking ban in the country after a ridiculous gaffe. Following an apparent misunderstanding of the texts put to vote, the MPs (members of parliament) allowed youngsters under 18 to enter disco and night clubs, but barred their access to restaurants and coffee shops, whose owners allow smoking. The gaffe forced MPs from the center-right majority to suspend the vote and convene a meeting of the health commission to solve the issue. (Bulgaria - final vote delayed on weakened smoking ban..)

Now the Bulgaria's parliament has unexpectedly banned minors' access to disco clubs after 10 pm, even if they are accompanied by an older friend or relative. Without debates, the MPs conclusively voted yes to the ruling-party proposal to water down a new smoking ban in the country, which will come into force on June 2 2010.

Under the adopted amendments smoking will be allowed in separate smoking spaces inside restaurants, bars, coffee shops, railroad stations, airports, ports, and bus stations. The owners of restaurants, clubs and coffee shops with an area less than 50 square meters, should decide if smoking would be allowed.

The draft legislation has surprisingly managed to fuse the ruling center-right GERB with the main opposition Socialist Party. The ad hoc coalition claims that the proposed relaxation of a ban on smoking in all public places would avoid hurting the tourist industry during tough economic times. Similar measures were imposed as part of a partial smoking ban in 2005 but have been widely ignored.

As part of the rule there is a provision that prohibits the sale of cigarette packages with less than 20 cigarettes.. But an even more important rule would be to Prohibit the sale of inexpensive (cheap, low priced) cigars sold individually (single, loosies) at convenience stores and gas stations. Such cigars are often marketed in youth-friendly flavors such as cherry, apple and lime and are sold for as little as 49 (forty-nine) cents to $1. (John Middleton challenges ban on single cigar sales..) see news brief: Prohibit the sale of inexpensive machine-made cigars..

Smokeless Tobacco Ads Larger Health Warnings.. another provision in the rule (see above) requires more prominent health warnings on advertisements for smokeless tobacco products beginning June 22 and a year later for cigarette ads. Previously, the warning on smokeless tobacco ads appeared in a small circle in the corner of the ad. Now the bold warning must fill 20 (twenty) percent of the advertising space.(New Bold Warnings on Tobacco Ads by DUFF WILSON, The New York Times, 5/3/2010)Some examples: This one is interesting.. The Philip Morris (PM) USA salesperson placed a Skoal sign behind the counter so customers would not be able to see it. The Grizzly salesperson placed their new sign (with the new warning) on the counter where the customer pays. When it was realized that the PM sign was placed where it would not be seen the Reynolds person removed the Grizzly sign.

American Snuff - special packaging for Grizzly Moist Snuff to celebrate the history of the American Snuff Company.. Conwood Company, LLC, changed its name back to American Snuff Company, LLC, effective January 1, 2010. Conwood, the nation's second largest manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products, is an operating company of Reynolds American Inc. (Conwood maker of Grizzly to change name to American Snuff Company..

PACT Act becomes effective July 1 2010..-- The U.S. Postal Service will be prohibited from delivering cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products through the U.S. Mail to consumers.Example of mail-in cigar offer that should go away..

Click on image to enlarge..May 21, 2010 - Ducati is proud to represent Italian industry - the essence of Italian style shows through the design of each bike.

The decision was probably taken in accord with Phillip Morris, Ducati’s main sponsor, following weeks of inquiries and complaints regarding subliminal advertising and reference to the tobacco brand on Ferrari’s Formula One cars with Marlboro cigarettes bar code emblazoned on Ferrari’s racing cars.

Ferarri to avoid further controversy and speculation has relunctantly removed the bar code from their cars and in suit so has Ducati, but only on the livery of their bikes, because both Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden have the “infamous” bar code on the back of their red leathers and on their helmets as do the pit crew members on their shirts.

Click to enlarge.. May 21, 2010 - "British Columbians (B.C.) lead the way because of our lifestyle habits - we have lower tobacco and obesity rates and higher physical activity rates - and this is paying off in lower cancer rates," says Kathryn Seely, Public Issues Manager, Canadian Cancer Society, B.C. and Yukon. "Steadily, we continue to make significant progress in the fight against cancer, however more needs to be done. Through advancements in research we know that 50 percent of cancers can be prevented."

The 2010 Cancer Statistics reveal death and incidence rates for the majority of cancer types have declined or stabilized during the past decade. In B.C. this year, there will be an estimated 21,600 new cases and an estimated 9,500 new deaths due to cancer. In Canada, it is estimated 173,000 new cases of cancer and 76,200 deaths will occur.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women even though it is the second most common cancer in both sexes. Twenty-seven per cent of all cancer deaths will be attributed to lung cancer in Canada and 26.3 per cent of all cancer deaths will be attributed to lung cancer in B.C.

Even though lung cancer incidence and mortality rates are lowest in B.C., double the number of men and women will die from lung cancer (2,500) than those who will die from breast and prostate (1,210) combined."B.C. has the lowest smoking rates in the country, however we continue to see higher incidence and death rates for lung cancer among women," says Seely. "The difference between male and female lung cancer rates reflects the drop in smoking that began for males in the mid-1960's and much later - in the mid-1980's for females."

Canadian Cancer Statistics 2010 is prepared, printed and distributed through a collaboration of the Canadian Cancer Society, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada, provincial and territorial cancer registries, as well as researchers based in universities and provincial or territorial cancer agencies.

May 21, 2010 - U.S. cigarette makers, led by Altria Group and Reynolds American (RAI), have racked up a dismal record in Florida courts, where smokers and their families won 14 of the last 15 trials and were awarded more than $200 million in damages. But plenty of battles remain. That's because there are still more than 9,000 claims left to be tried. The industry's string of 14 losses, followed by one victory on May 19, are among the first cases to be heard on behalf of sick and dead smokers since the Florida Supreme Court threw out a huge class action aiming to represent 700,000 smokers in 2006.

Background: In December 2006 the Florida Supreme Court breathed new life into a case against the tobacco industry that had worked its way through the courts since 1994. The case is known as the Engle case (landmark 1994 lawsuit filed by Dr. Howard Engle that produced a $145 billion judgment against cigarette makers six years later). On July 6, 2006, the Florida Supreme Court cleared the path for hundreds of thousands of Florida residents to file individual lawsuits against the nation's largest tobacco manufacturers for injuries sustained from smoking cigarettes. The Court set a strict deadline for injured persons to file a lawsuit: July 6, 2007; which is one year from the date the Court issued its opinion. The Court ruled that individual plaintiffs can use previous jury findings against the tobacco industry in the newly filed lawsuits. (Cigarette Makers Face Thousands of New Florida Lawsuits..; Dr. Howard A. Engle, the veteran pediatrician who lent his name to a landmark class action suit against Big Tobacco, dies..)Just yesterday, Thursday, May 20th a Broward County jury, Florida handed down a $29.1 million verdict to a widow who said her husband started smoking as a teenager. Connie Buonomo, 77, of Hollywood, said the decision to sue had little to do with recouping losses. She wants to punish and send a message to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the corporation she blames for her husband's illness and death. "Certainly we're disappointed," David Howard, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, said Thursday night. "We are going to appeal." (Tobacco trial jury awards Hollywood widow $29 million Husband could barely breathe for 13 years, woman said by Sofia Santana, Sun-Sentinel.com, 5/20/2010)

Edward Sweda, senior staff attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project, an antismoking group, says he thinks the Florida trial procedures are fair, and that the 9,000-plus people bringing claims now are a fraction of the estimated 700,000 Engle class plaintiffs. Both sides agree it could take decades for the cases to wind their way through Florida's legal system.

"Collectively, these cases are the single greatest litigation threat facing the industry," says Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst David Adelman.

Lawyers for Florida smokers say they hope the early verdicts will spur tobacco companies to settle remaining claims. Defense lawyers, however, argue the losing streak shows that the ground rules applied in the trials make it impossible for the companies to get a fair hearing.

Altria Group Inc.'s top executive Michael E. Szymanczyk, the company's chairman and chief executive office expressed confidence yesterday, May 20th (at the 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders) that the nation's largest tobacco company can defend itself against a wave of smoker lawsuits in Florida. Altria (parent of Philip Morris USA) is "bullish" that it can successfully fight thousands of lawsuits filed in Florida against cigarette companies, Michael E. Szymanczyk, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said at the company's annual meeting yesterday.

"Litigation is part of this business," Szymanczyk said after one shareholder, lawyer and tobacco-control advocate Edward L. Sweda Jr., asked whether the company would reconsider its practice of refusing to settle lawsuits, considering the scope of the cases in Florida. Lawsuits against the company "remain a challenge," Szymanczyk said. "But if you look at the past decade, the company has had success defending its shareholders' interests."

Back in July 2009 Murray Garnick, a senior vice president and associate general counsel at Altria Group: "We continued to see a decline in the number of traditional smoking and health cases in 2008. In fact, last year no [health-related] tobacco case was tried to verdict against any U.S. cigarette manufacturer." (Philip Morris USA sees decline in health lawsuits..)

May 21, 2010 - Bulgaria's parliament delayed on Thursday, May 20th its conclusive [final] vote on the ruling-party proposal to water down a new smoking ban in the country after a ridiculous gaffe.

Following an apparent misunderstanding of the texts put to vote, the MPs (members of parliament) allowed youngsters under 18 to enter disco and night clubs, but barred their access to restaurants and coffee shops, whose owners allow smoking. The gaffe forced MPs from the center-right majority to suspend the vote and convene a meeting of the health commission to solve the issue.

Under the proposed changes smoking will be allowed in separate smoking spaces inside restaurants, bars, coffee shops, railroad stations, airports, ports, and bus stations. The owners of restaurants, clubs and coffee shops with an area less than 50 square meters, should decide if smoking would be allowed. Similar measures were imposed as part of a partial smoking ban in 2005 but have been widely ignored.

The smoking ban was voted by the previous parliament and was supposed to become effective on June 1, but the current MPs approved the amendments to the Health Care Act, proposed by the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.The draft legislation has surprisingly managed to fuse the ruling center-right GERB with the main opposition Socialist Party. The ad hoc coalition claims that the proposed relaxation of a ban on smoking in all public places would avoid hurting the tourist industry during tough economic times. Tourism accounts for 8% of GDP in the Balkan country of 7.6 million people, the EU's poorest state.

Bulgaria ranks second after Greece in the European Union (EU) in terms of number of regular smokers as a percentage of the population, according to a Eurobarometer survey. Almost every third person between 10 and 19 years of age is a regular smoker, data from the health ministry show.

The Supreme Court of Canada granted the government’s request for a hearing.

The tobacco companies, facing a suit by British Columbia for unspecified damages over the cost of treatment of cancer and other tobacco-related illnesses, claim the federal government knew of the risks of smoking while it regulated the industry.

A finding of government liability “would place an indeterminate strain on available public resources and would effectively create an insurance scheme for tobacco manufacturers at the expense of Canadian taxpayers,” according to a filing from the government.The Court of Appeal for British Columbia in December overturned a trial judge’s decision that had removed the federal government from the case. In a 3-2 decision, the appeals court ruled the government must be added as a co-defendant as requested by the tobacco companies. (Canada - Tobacco companies win partial legal victory..)

May 19, 2010 - More than half of New Zealanders want to see an end to tobacco sales by 2020, the Smokefree Coalition will tell a select committee tomorrow. (New Zealand’s Parliament has only one chamber - the House of Representatives and there is no upper house such as a senate. Select committees work on behalf of the House and report their conclusions to the House. The Māori Affairs Committee considers matters relating to Māori affairs.)

The group will present to the Maori Affairs select committee inquiry into the tobacco industry the findings of a UMR survey showing that 64 percent of New Zealanders supported an end to commercial tobacco sales.

The coalition said today its vision for a tobacco-free country was about reducing demand, not banning smoking.The recent tax increase on tobacco products was an important first step, coalition chairman Professor Robert Beaglehole said. The next steps included further tax increases, banning retail displays, switching to plain packaging and making youth environments smokefree.The coalition said it would urge the select committee to adopt its Achieving the Vision strategy document to reduce demand for tobacco and regulate its supply by 2020.

A number of health groups, along with British American Tobacco, had also made submissions to the select [Māori Affairs] committee.

May 20, 2010 - The smoking ban was voted by the previous Parliament and was supposed to become effective on June 1, but the current Members of the Parliament approved the amendments of the Health Care Act, proposed by the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.

Smoking will now be allowed in separate smoking spaces inside restaurants, bars, coffee shops, railroad stations, airports, ports, and bus stations. In restaurants with less than 50 square meters, the owner is to decide it the establishment will be smoking or non-smoking. In office buildings, employers have the right to designate special smoking spaces. In nigh clubs smoking will be allowed without the requirement to have separate non-smoking places.

May 20, 2010 - Monday, May 17th in Ottawa, the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) released a study showing that federal civil servants are as guilty as anyone of buying smuggled (illegal, illicit, contraband) cigarettes. Twenty-two percent of cigarettes smoked by employees of the Supreme Court of Canada were contraband, as were 32% of those smoked by Finance Ministry workers.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)estimate that one in three cigarettes smoked in Canada are smuggled, including nearly half of those smoked in Ontario and Quebec. Governments - federal and provincial - are losing about $2.5 billion annually in tax revenue.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why: A legal carton of cigarettes costs $80 to $90 dollars; a smuggled carton is just $6 to $10. If someone offered you a $3,000 leather couch for $300 or a $1 litre of gas for 10 cents, it would be as hard to turn them down as it is for a smoker to resist cigarettes at 90% off the retail price.

The Mackenzie Institute, [a Toronto think-tank] estimates that 70% of illegal cigarettes enter Canada through First Nations reserves that border the United States along the St. Lawrence in Ontario and Quebec. Of the estimated 50 illegal cigarette factories in Canada, nearly all are on-reserve, too.

Anyone wondering why governments work so hard to get smokers to quit, need only look at public revenues from cigarette sales to see why no government has the courage to ban smoking outright. Ottawa and the provinces make more than $5 billion a year from tobacco taxes.If governments want to assist the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco, the CCSA and the tobacco industry - all of whom want the illegal trade stopped - they will have to be bolder than they have shown themselves willing to be to date.

May 19, 2010 - Under the new law smoking is prohibited in indoor and outdoor areas frequented by the public, including sidewalks, parking garages, bars, restaurants, stores, stadiums, playgrounds and transit centers.

Lighting up in outdoor areas is also banned in areas that are within 20 feet of indoor areas. Exceptions include private residential units and designated hotel rooms, existing tobacco retailers, and outdoor areas in which no nonsmoker is present.Bars that don't serve food could designate a smoking area located at least five feet from any doorway. The San Luis Obispo City Council approved the new law in April, following a vote in December to ban smoking in Mission Plaza, the downtown creek area and the city's parks. The citywide ban puts San Luis Obispo in the same class with two dozen other California cities that have banned smoking from all areas frequented by the public, including multi-unit residential areas. In 1990, San Luis Obispo, Calif., became the first city in the world to ban smoking at all indoor public places. Arizona became the first state in the USA to pass a comprehensive law restricting smoking in public places in 1973. California enacted a workplace smoking ban in 1994, and a complete smoking ban in enclosed spaces in 1998. Smoking Ban, search.com)

May 19, 2010 - The number of smokers in Italy fell in one year by 1.9 million, reducing the percentage of the population who smoke from 25.4% to 21.7%, according to a new report from the High Institute of Health (ISS). The report was drawn up in collaboration with the Italian League for the Fight Against cancer (Lilt) and the Mario Negri Institute and presented here on Tuesday ahead of the United Nations No Tobacco Day, May 31.

Of the 11.1 million Italians who still smoke, down from over 13 million a year ago, 5.9 million are men and 5.2 million women. The percentage of the male population who smoke dropped in one year by five full percentage points, from 28.9% to 23.9%, while the decline among women was more modest, 2.6 percentage points, from 22.3% to 19.7% of the population.

This difference, some experts claim, is evidence that women, even though they smoke less than men, have a greater difficulty in quitting.

This year's decline in the number of Italian smokers offset an unexpected hike in 2009, which reversed a downward trend begun when Italy adopted tough anti-smoking laws six years earlier. In its report last year, the ISS found that the percentage of Italian smokers rose from 22% to 25.4%, with the number of men smokers rising from 6.5 million to 7.1 million while women smokers jumped from 4.7 million to 6.5 million.Thus while fewer men are smoking today than two years ago, the number of women smokers remains higher. According to the ISS, the increase in the number of smokers "in part responded to a decrease in the number of ex-smokers, who represented 18.4% of the population in 2008 and today 14.6%."

This meant that many people who were able to kick the habit were hooked once again. Based on this year's data, the percentage of the Italian population who smoke is now below 2008 levels.

May 19, 2010 - California kids are less likely than ever to start smoking, thanks to the most ambitious, longest-running anti-tobacco program in the world. Yet, when it comes to their older brothers, Big Tobacco might still be winning the battle.

A new study looks at 15 years’ worth of survey data from nearly 35,000 young people and contrasts how many tried cigarettes before and during the ongoing California Tobacco Control (CTC) Program.

PAPER: Changes in Age Trajectories of Smoking Experimentation During the California Tobacco Control Program, Karen Messer John P. Pierce (jppierce@ucsd.edu), American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2009.160416, ABSTRACT..

The anti-tobacco program was born two decades ago after state voters approved an excise tax on cigarettes, with 5 cents a pack slated to fund a variety of anti-smoking initiatives. “In 20 years, at $60 million a year, they’ve put together a lot of programs,” study co-author John Pierce, Ph.D.

Studies showed that the program has made huge strides in curbing adult smoking. Until now, evidence was lacking that children and teens were also reaping its benefits, so this study focused on them.

“A lot of people say expenditures to prevent smoking don’t affect kids. Now we have evidence to say they do,” said Pierce, head of cancer prevention at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). When the UCSD researchers looked at smoking experimentation starting at six different time points from 1990 to 2005, they found consecutively lower rates for each group.Before the program, for example, 45 percent of California adolescents between 15 and 17 had tried smoking. By 2005, the rate was down to 10 percent. Among children 12-14 years of age, the program reduced experimentation by 80 percent among boys and 92 percent among girls by 2005. For girls, “it seems the program has wiped out smoking in 12 to 15 year olds; they don’t start as young girls,” Pierce said.

However, males in the latest group studied were more likely to try smoking after they became adults. “You can have an effect at 18 and lose it at 21,” Pierce said.

For the study, researchers only analyzed survey data from non-Hispanic white participants because “the smoking pattern was so different” for other groups like African-American and Mexican-American smokers, Pierce said.

However, he said future surveys would look at factors such as the way acculturation [modification of the culture of a group or individual as a result of contact with a different culture]of Hispanic-Americans affects their smoking habits.

The CTC program greatly reduced adolescent smoking initiation among younger adolescents. Late experimentation may have recently increased among young adult men in California, coincident with an increase in tobacco industry marketing aimed at young adults.